Compartment box



Feb. 25, 1969 P. R. OLSEN 3,429,499

COMPARTMENT BOX Filed May 1, 1967 Sheet of 2 INVENTOR PETER R. OLSEN L AW w ATTORNEYS Feb. 25. 1969 P. R. OLSEN 3,429,499

COMPAR'IMENT BOX Filed May 1, 1967 Sheet 2/ of z INVENTOR. 4 PETER R. OLSEN ATTORNEYS United States latent C 3,429,499 COMPARTMENT BOX Peter R. Olsen, Suffer-n, N.Y., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Stecher-Traung-Schmidt Corporation, Rochester, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed May, 1, 1967, Ser. No. 635,066

US. Cl. 229-28 15 Claims Int. Cl. B654! /48, 5/56, 5/40, 5/62, 1/36 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A carton shell having vertical upstanding compart ments 20 formed from end extensions of the shell sidewalls 12 and 14. The compartments being hinged to adjacent shell endwalls 16 and 18 by hinge panels 32 partially formed from external compartment back walls 22, thereby to maintain the shell sidewalls, shell endwalls and compartments in proper alignment when tuck flaps 46 or 48 of shell endwalls 16 and 18 are interlocked with abutting compartments.

Summary of invention This invention is an improved carton construction in which corner compartments are formed out of end extensions of shell sidewalls and hinge panels are provided between each compartment and the adjacent shell endwall thereby to maintain the shell sidewalls, shell endwalls and compartments in proper alignment when tuck flaps or shell endwalls are interlocked with abutting compartments. This construction is also suitable for automatic erection because the compartments are preglued and have a web hinge extending between each compartment and the adjacent carton shell endwall.

While cartons having compartments are not new per se my invention provides a greatly improved construction not only having greater strength but suitable for automated erection and therefore one object of my invention is to provide an improved carton of the above described nature suitable for automatic erection.

A further object of my invention is to provide an improved method of erecting such a carton.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be particularly set forth in the claims and will be apparent from the following description:

FIG. 1 is a top planar view of the carton shell blank with three of the compartments, formed from extensions of the carton shell sidewall, in their preglued positions.

FIG. 2 is an end elevational view illustrating the carton shell in a partially erected position in which the carton shell sidewalls and endwalls have been erected upwardly approximately 30 from the horizontal plane of the bottom wall of the carton shell.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged partial top view of the carton shell including one corner compartment in a partially erected position, advanced from the FIG. 2 position to approximately 45 with the horizontal plane.

FIG. 4 is a top planar view of the fully erected carton, with the right hand end top flap projecting in a vertical upstanding position and the plunger for erecting the carton being received in the central portion of the carton shell.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the lines 5--5 of FIG. 4, in the direction indicated by the arrows.

FIG. 5A is an enlarged view of the 5A circled portion of FIG. 5.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the lines 66 of FIG. 4 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

With reference to FIG. 1, I have illustrated a carton shell comprising a bottom wall 10, a pair of opposing shell sidewalls 12 and 14, and a pair of opposing shell endwalls 16 and 18. I provide corner compartments, generally indicated by the numeral 20, each compartment comprising a plurality of compartment walls 22, 24 and 26 and a terminal glue flap 28. The compartment walls and glue flap are separated from each other by fold lines and collectively define an end extension hinged to the end of the shell sidewall along a fold line 30. These fold lines extend transversely of the length of the shell sidewalls, and when the carton is in the erected position shown in FIGS. 4-6, these fold lines extend transversely of the length of the adjacent shell endwall and perpendicular to the bottom shell wall 10. While all of the fold lines intermediate the compartment walls 22, 24 and 26 and glue flap 28, as well as the fold lines between the shell walls are shown as half-cuts which is preferred for ease of erection of the carton automatically, it will be understood that score lines or any other suitable fold lines are interchangeable within the concept of my invention.

It is of significant importance that I provide for one of the compartment walls to be hingedly connected to the adjacent shell endwall. In the preferred construction in order to accomplish this, I provide a hinge panel or web 32, hinged along the hinge lines 34 and 36 to the external compartment back wall 22 and the adjacent shell endwall 18 respectively. The hinge panel 32 is at least partially formed out of a lower section of the compartment back wall 22 by reason of the hinge lines 34 extending diagonally upward into external compartment back wall 22 from the intersection of the fold line 30 and hinge line 36. A diagonally cut notch 38 extends across and forms a cutaway portion along the lower part of the internal end compartment wall 24 and the notch also extends into the external compartment back wall 22. In this manner, the notch 38 cut into the two compartment walls defines the hinge panel 32 as being partially formed out of a lower corner section of the internal compartment endwall 24.

The carton manufacturer pre-bonds by gluing the corner compartments 20 in the preglued position, illustrated by three of the compartments 20 in FIG. 1 by applying glue or other suitable adhesive to what would be the undisclosed or opposite side of the glue flap 28 from that illustrated in FIG. 1. The glue flap is then bonded to the internal surface of the shell sidewalls 12 and 14 to define a portion thereof as being the fourth side of the compartment 20 as designated by the numeral 40. This area 40 of the shell sidewall 12 then also becomes the external compartment endwall opposite the internal compartment endwall 24.

Each of the shell endwalls 16 and 18 are provided with a top cover panel 42 and 44 respectively adapted to overlie the upper ends of the corner compartments 20 when erected in the upright vertical position illustrated in FIGS. 4-6 inclusive. There are terminal tuck flaps 46 and 48 hinged to each of the top cover panels 42 and 44 respectively. Each of the tuck flaps 46 and 48 are notched at 50 and 5-2 respectively thereby defining two terminal sections 46A of tuck flap 46 and 48A of tuck flap 48. Notches 50 and 52 are designed to receive pairs of abutting internal compartment endwalls 24 of adjacent corner compart ments thereby to lock together pairs of compartments 20 at opposite ends of the carton shell. In turn, the shell sidewalls and endwalls are locked securely in erected posi- 3 tion. The two terminal tuck flap sections (46A46A) and (48A-48A) are received behind adjacent internal com partment front walls 26 in the manner illustrated in FIG. 5A.

The primary purpose of the enlarged view FIG. 5A, is to illustrate a projection or protrusion 54 (also see FIG. 5 illustrated on the right hand compartment). With reference to FIG. 1 and the upper left hand compartment laying in a preglued flattened position, the protrusion 54 is formed by the upper terminal diagonally half-out line between the compartment walls 24' and 26. The projection 54 as is illustrated in FIG. 5A serves as a frictional gripping element to retain the tuck flaps 46 and 48 in the final tucked position. Projection 54 frictionally engages the narrow strip 56 (see FIG. 1) of the tucked flap 48 immediately above notches 50 and 52.

Erection of the cart n The hinge panel 32 extending between one wall of the rectangular in cross section vertically disposed pre-bonded compartment and the adjacent carton shell endwall serves to maintain the proper alignment between the corner compartments 20 and the adjacent carton shell endwalls, and also maintains proper alignment between the carton shell endwalls 16 and 18 and the adjacent carton sidewalls 12 and 14. The hinge panels 32 also serve the function of facilitating automatic erection of the carton in the manner hereinafter described.

Commencing with reference to FIG. 2 I shall now describe the method for erecting the carton after all of the compartments 20 have been pre-bonded or glued in the above described manner, three of which are illustrated in FIG. 1. The carton blank in this condition is received in a machine or is manually set up by first applying force to only a selected portion of the bottom wall of the carton blank lying within the area defined by the erected carton shell sidewalls 12 and 14 and the erected internal compartment front walls 26; preferably, I provide a plunger 60 including a plunger rod 62 for applying such pressure The head of the plunger 60 completely covers this area of the bottom wall just defined. Preferably force is applied in a downward direction while inwardly folding force, in the form of plowbars on a carton set up machine or manually, is simultaneously applied along the hinge line 34 (see FIG. 1), between the hinge panels 32 and the external compartment back wall 22. In this manner, the preglued flap corner compartments are opened up while the attached carton shell sidewalls 12 and 14 and carton shell endwalls 16 and 18 are moved sequentially from the FIG. 1 position through the FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 positions. When the carton has been erected to the FIG. 4 position and before tuck flap 46 has been tucked as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, the plugger 60 may be withdrawn if desired while the tuck flaps 46 and 48 are being tucked. The tuck flaps 46 and 48 are both tucked in behind the internal compartment front walls 26 and the top of the notch 50 and 52 seats against a small shoulder 55, formed at the lower end of projection 54 as shown in FIG. 5A. In this manner, I am able to improve the manner of manually or automatically setting up my improved carton having preglued corner compartments when the shell is erected which extend between internal faces, of the shell sidewalls 12 and 14 and the adjacent shell endwall.

It is particularly desirable (with reference to FIG. 5) that the notch 38 be cut diagonally upwardly and inwardly across the bottom of the internal compartment endwalls 24, thereby to greatly facilitate the ease with which the corner compartments 20 may be automatically set up because this eliminates any possible interfering corner of the compartments which could otherwise engage the carton shell endwalls 16 and 18 while being erected.

While I have described the preferred form of my invention it will be apparent that various modifications and changes may be made therein, without departing from the spirit of my invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An improvement in a carton shell having walls including a pair of opposing shell sidewalls and a pair of opposing shell endwalls, said improvement comprising: a plurality of compartment walls defining an end extension of one shell sidewall, said compartment walls having fold lines defining a compartment when the shell is erected which compartment extends between internal faces of said one shell sidewall and an adjacent shell endwall and one of said compartment walls being hingedly connected to said adjacent shell endwall.

2. A carton in accordance with claim 1 including at least three compartment walls.

3. A carton in accordance with claim 2 in which one compartment wall is bonded to form a pre-bonded compartment of substantially rectangular cross-section when erected.

4. A carton in accordance with claim 1 in which said fold lines extend transversely of the length of said one shell sidewall when said carton is erected.

S. An improvement in a carton shell having walls including a pair of opposing shell sidewalls and a pair of opposing shell endwalls, said improvement comprising a plurality of compartment walls defining an end extension of one shell sidewall, said compartment walls having fold lines extending transversely of the length of said one shell sidewall and folding into a compartment having said fold lines extending transversely of the length of an adjacent shell endwall when the shell is erected, and one of said compartment walls being hingedly connected to said adjacent shell endwall.

6. A carton improvement in accordance with claim 5 in which one of said compartment walls is bonded to said adjacent shell sidewall to form an upright pre-bonded compartment when the shell is erected.

7. A carton improvement in accordance with claim 5 including one of said compartments at one end of each of said shell sidewalls and a terminal tuck flap hinged to said shell endwall adjacent said compartments, said tuck flap being adapted for locking together said compartments thereby securing said shell endwall and sidewalls in upright position.

8. A carton improvement in accordance with claim 5 including a hinge panel extending between said adjacent shell endwall and an external compartment backwall.

9. A carton improvement in accordance with claim 8 in which said hinge panel is at least partially formed from said external compartment backwall.

10. A carton in accordance with claim 9 in which said hinge panel is also partially formed from an internal compartment endwall.

11. A carton in accordance with claim 9 in which one of said compartment walls is bonded to said adjacent shell sidewall to form an upright pre-bonded compartment when the shell is erected.

12. A carton in accordance with claim 11 including one of said compartments at one end of each of said shell sidewalls and a terminal tuck flap hinged to said shell endwall adjacent said compartments, said tuck flap being adapted for locking together said compartments thereby securing said shell endwall and sidewalls in upright position.

13. A carton in accordance with claim 9 in which a lower portion of an internal compartment endwall is cut away to facilitate erection of said compartment walls.

14. An improvement in a carton shell construction comprising, a pair of walls when a fold line separating them, a first of said walls having a projection formed along said fold line and at least partially formed from a portion of a second of said walls, said projection extending beyond a front face of said second wall when folded along said line at a selected angle to said first Wall, a tuck flap adapted to frictionally engage the forward edge of said projection while being received behind said second wall thereby to secure said tuck flap to said walls.

15. A carton shell blank comprising a pair of opposing sidewalls, a pair of opposing endwalls, a corner compartment formed out of an end extension of one of said sidewalls, and a hinge panel connected between a wall of said compartment and an adjacent endwall, said hinge panel having a fold line such that said hinge panel folds between said compartment and said adjacent endwall to maintain proper alignment therebetween and to facilitate erection of the carton.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Parks.

Goodyear 220-113 Durand 22928 Kuchenbecker 229-28 Moore 22931 Forbes 22914 Hennessey 22914 DAVID M. BOCKENEK, Primary Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,429,499 February 25, 1969 Peter R. Olsen It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 4, line 73, "when" should read with Signed and sealed this 31st day of March 1970.

' (SEAL) Edward M. Fletcher, Jr.

Commissioner of Patents Attesting Officer 

